2025 delivered historic growth and 2026 is about scaling impact.
On behalf of the entire CESMII team, we wish you a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
As we reflect on the past year and our engagement with many of you, it is clear that 2025 was both uniquely challenging and deeply validating. As many of you know, CESMII was impacted by the Federal Government and UCLA working through issues related to federally funded awards. We’re pleased to share that CESMII’s federal funding was reinstated just before the holiday.
Despite this uncertainty, CESMII remained fully operational and sharply focused on serving our community. In fact, 2025 marked the strongest growth in new members, industry engagement, and Smart Manufacturing adoption in CESMII’s history. We saw unprecedented alignment, urgency, and momentum around Smart Manufacturing as a critical driver of productivity and competitiveness.
Looking ahead to 2026, several high-impact Smart Manufacturing priorities stand out – areas where we believe focused collaboration will deliver meaningful results.
Thursday morning at ProveIt! 2026, CESMII opens with the keynote Building Better Namespaces with CESMII. John Dyck and Jonathan Wise take on the issues the industry tends to avoid: fragmented namespaces, brittle architectures, and “interoperability” that works in demos but fails on the plant floor. The session digs into why standards are no longer optional, how weak information models quietly limit scale, and what it really takes to align OT and IT.
The conversation is grounded by perspectives from across the ecosystem, including GE Appliances (a Haier company), Georgia-Pacific LLC, Inductive Automation, HighByte, Flow Software Inc., ACE Technologies (Manufacturing IIoT), Siemens, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Also debuting at ProveIt! 2026: a major shift for Smart Manufacturing. Smart Manufacturing Profiles are now required for all vendors, acting as an information contract for consistent, reusable data across platforms to enable faster deployment and scalable analytics.
Headed to ProveIt? Use code CESMII50 for 50% off registration.
How Workforce Roles are Changing in Smart Manufacturing Operations
Written by: Conrad Leiva, VP, Ecosystem & Workforce, CESMII Published: January 2026
As Smart Manufacturing adoption accelerates, workforce roles are evolving across every layer of operations. Operations managers, innovation leaders, industrial and process engineers, automation and controls specialists, and production operators are all taking on new responsibilities shaped by data, connectivity, and interoperability. These changes are redefining skills, workflows, and how teams collaborate to drive performance at scale.
Introducing the Industrial Information Interoperability eXchange (i3X)
The Industrial Information Interoperability Exchange (i3X) is an open, standard API initiative proposed to address a growing interoperability challenge in modern manufacturing architectures: manufacturing data silo proliferation and API chaos. As manufacturers adopt heterogeneous software stacks from multiple vendors, the industry risks repeating past fragmentation seen with protocols, stovepipe architectures, and namespaces—this time at the API layer.
Now Accepting Applications: Software Development Engineer
Want to build technology that shapes the future of U.S. manufacturing? CESMII is looking for a Software Development Engineer to help design, build, and evolve the next generation of our Smart Manufacturing Platform.
Upskilling Small & Medium Sized Manufacturers on Smart Manufacturing Tools
Industrial Printer Sees a 58% Reduction in Energy Costs When Implementing Smart Manufacturing Tools
Project Objective: Upskill small manufacturers with smart manufacturing tools by providing them with a method for sensing, contextualizing, and analyzing manufacturing process data via the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Interoperability Platform (SMIP).
⬇58%
SM tools yielded process data that informed a production process change that will reduce energy costs by 58% when implemented.
Have you logged into the new CESMII Membership Hub yet?
We recently launched the CESMII Membership Hub, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, now’s the time.
Built exclusively for members, the Hub is your new central destination for everything CESMII. Content is tailored to your membership type so Manufacturers, System Integrators, Technology Providers, and Educators can quickly find the resources that matter most.
Global Connected Worker & Manufacturing Excellence Summit
John Dyck, CEO of CESMII, will be keynoting at the Connected Worker & Manufacturing Excellence Summit, a global forum exploring the future of connected manufacturing, digital transformation, and smart factory strategies. The summit brings together manufacturing leaders, technology innovators, and industry experts to share insights on emerging trends, AI and automation integration, workforce transformation, and practical frameworks for operational excellence.
Manufacturers looking for the latest connected worker solutions, and technology providers looking to engage in closed-door networking, this one is for you…
The Connected Worker Exchange(May 2026 | Chicago) is a unique, invitation-only platform for manufacturing executives to discuss challenges and opportunities around building a connected workforce.
Designed for time-starved executives, this event allows you to benchmark strategies and conduct due diligence on potential digital manufacturing solutions, saving time and resources in the process. Join 60 decision-makers from North America’s leading manufacturing enterprises for intimate, closed door, peer-level benchmarking and networking, and benefit from exploring solutions matched to your buying priorities, complimentary accommodation, and much more.
You'll be in good company with current attendees joining from the likes of Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Danone, Zoetis, Mars, Motiva, and Marmon Holding.
Plus, with only 16 places available for technology providers, the event is down to its last few places!
CESMII – the Smart Manufacturing Institute – has a total current investment commitment of $201M from Department of Energy funding and public/private partnership contributions, with a mandate to create a more competitive manufacturing environment here in the US through advanced sensing, analytics, modeling, control and platforms. CESMII is one of 18 Manufacturing USA institutes on this mission to increase manufacturing productivity, global competitiveness, and reinvestment by increasing energy productivity, improving economic performance and raising workforce capacity. University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is the program and administrative home of CESMII. For more information about CESMII, its history and Smart Manufacturing, visit cesmii.org.
